Atheism, Evolution, Skepticism

West meets Middle-East

I heard three very different news stories today – one out of Switzerland, and one out of Saudi Arabia:

Sex for the disabled

A Swiss welfare group is recruiting volunteers to have sex with disabled people.

The Basel-based Welfare Group for Disability and Sexuality already arranges erotic massages for people with disabilities.

But it is now providing full sexual intercourse and is also signing up gay volunteers to have sex with homosexual disabled people. (Link)

I can understand why conservative people see the West as morally decadent, especially with these kinds of stories. For a contrast, compare it to this BBC news article:

Saudi gang-rape victim is jailed

An appeal court in Saudi Arabia has doubled the number of lashes and added a jail sentence as punishment for a woman who was gang-raped.
…
But the victim was also punished for violating Saudi Arabia’s laws on segregation that forbid unrelated men and women from associating with each other. She was initially sentenced to 90 lashes for being in the car of a strange man. (Link)

Saudi Arabia has all kinds of “moral” laws restricting what people can do. Women have to be covered, they can’t drive, and they can’t associate with men they aren’t related to – unless escorted by a male relative. The woman in this story was sentenced to 90 lashes for being with males. (Apparently, being raped by seven men wasn’t punishment enough.) She appealed the sentence, and the story made it into the media. The judge became angry because he thought she was trying to use the media to manipulate the judge. So, he upped her sentence to 200 lashes and six-months in jail. Her lawyer had his license confiscated, and faces disciplinary action as well.

So – in Switzerland, a charity will look for volunteers to have sex with disabled people, and in Saudi Arabia, a woman gets 90 lashes for merely being in the company of men she isn’t related to.